You regain consciousness slowly. You remember answering a royal summons from the Palace, something about a tournament with a powerful weapon as a prize. You remember going to the Palace, being brought to a small room, given two orbs (one glass and inscribed with a number, one made from a strange metal), and given instructions to break the glass one. You smashed the orb at your feet, there was a whooshing sound, and you blacked out, before waking up... here.

You look around. You appear to be inside some sort of dungeon. With the lack of windows, you can assume that you are underground. The room is spacious and empty aside from a grotesque monster statue. Suddenly, a voice echoes out.

"WELCOME, PARTICIPANTS, TO THE DEATH PIT OF KING MALAKHAN! I AM THE ARBITER. LET ME EXPLAIN TO YOU THE RULES. YOU HAVE ALL CHOSEN TO JOIN IN THIS TOURNAMENT BY VIRTUE OF ANSWERING OUR SUMMONS AND BY SMASHING THE TELEPORTATION ORB. FIRST, CHECK TO SEE IF YOU HAVE RETAINED POSSESSION OF THE TOURNAMENT ORB."

You check and realize that you are holding the metal orb in your right hand.

"STILL GOT IT?"

You nod.

"GOOD. TO WIN THIS TOURNAMENT, YOU MUST FIND AND DEFEAT ALL THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS. UPON WINNING, YOUR ORB WILL ABSORB YOUR OPPONENT'S ORB AND GAIN A SLIGHT GLOW. THIS GLOW WILL GET STRONGER THE MORE OPPONENTS YOU DEFEAT. THIS TOURNAMENT IS A LAST MAN STANDING FREE-FOR-ALL. YOU ARE WELCOME TO MAKE ALLIANCES, BUT REMEMBER THAT ONLY ONE PARTICIPANT WILL LEAVE THE DEATH PIT ALIVE.

IT MAY INTEREST YOU TO KNOW THAT A MONITORING DWEOMER HAS BEEN CAST ALL OVER THIS DUNGEON, SO THAT THE ROYALTY CAN WATCH YOUR PERFORMANCE AND PLACE BETS ON YOU. THE WINNER OF THIS TOURNAMENT WILL NOT ONLY GAIN THE TITLE OF MALAKHANOTEN (Champion of Malakhan), BUT WILL ALSO BE GIVEN THE GOD PISTON, A MIGHTY WEAPON THAT HITS LIKE THE FIST OF AN ENRAGED DEITY, AS A PRIZE.

TO MAKE THINGS INTERESTING, THE DEATH PIT HAS ALSO BEEN FILLED WITH ALL SORTS OF CREATURES AND MONSTERS FOR YOU TO FIGHT, SORT OF AN ELIMINATE THE UNWORTHY THING. IN FACT, LET'S BEGIN THE ELIMINATION ROUND RIGHT NOW! DEFEAT THE GUG TO REVEAL THE EXIT!"

The voice fades away, and you start to mutter profanities as the monster statue comes alive and roars.

After listening to the voice's explanation and warning, Axear crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to his right foot. "Great.... So all I have to do is basically hunt for everything that moves within this maze." The halfling looks around and sees no exit. "Easier said that that. Exactly what am I going to have to fight in this room?" Axear asked to no one in particular.

Unbeknownst to the gunner, the statue's eye glowed red and the eye moved to stare at Axear. Slowly, stone chipped off of the statues and black fur appeared underneath. The arms and legs twitched and the moth opened to show sharp rows of teeth, ready to bite down on its prey.

As Axear was trying to locate the exit with his Spirit Eye, he suddenly froze. 'This aura... Where is it coming from?' Axear thought. A shadow loomed over him, making the gunner look behind. He quiclky moved as a fist came down on the spot that he was standing.

Axear stopped running and got a hold of his Reaper Busters. He looked towards his attacker and saw a giant with four arms and black fur. Its mouth was twisted to look vertical and its blood red eyes stared at him. The monster roared loudly, the room shaking with the sound. "So... Gug, I presume?"

The monster growled and charged with its fists raised, ready to crush the halfling. Axear pointed his guns to the monster. "Sorry but I really don't have time for you." The gunner stated before he let out a volley of bullets towards the Gug. Each bullet exploded and hit different parts of the Gug's body. Axear stopped shooting to let the smoke clear. The gunner was about to put away his handguns when two fists came at him. The gunner run quickly to avoid the attack. The fists hit the ground, sending debris around. Some of the debris flew at considerable speeds, and some hitting the gunner as he ran.

Axear stopped running to look at the Gug. The smoke finally cleared and he saw the monster grinning wickedly at him while its body sustained no damage. 'Not even a scratch?! What in the world is this guy's body made of?' The Gug then started to charge at him once more. The gunner went to his battle stance and got ready for another round.

Th Gug and Axear went at it for minutes. As time flew, Axear figured the enemy out. "Okay, so he's really slow." The Gug then tripped itself on one of the craters it made from its attacks. "And stupid." The Halfling added. "In this case, I could try using that."

Axear stopped moving as he was on the opposite side of the room and faced the Gug. He then closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. The Gug started to rise and was coming at him. As the monster walked slowly, Axear started to sing a short verse in elfen language before. "Radiant Blades!"

A glyph appeared under the Gug and it stopped to look at it. Numerous orbs rose from the glyph and in a flash, they turned into swords of light. The blades were pointed at the monster before they drove themselves into its body. The Gug roared in pain as more blades pierced its body causing massive bleeding. A single blade was left above the monster and it drove itself down on the beast's head right through it's mouth and exiting uderneath the Gug. successfully killing it. The swords disappeared and the Gug fell on the floor, twitching as it made a pool of blood underneath.

A low, mean growl echoed from the walls, as what she first considered to be 'an exotic masterpiece' started moving.

"Gug, huh?", Lilia said to herself as she made a tiny laugh. "What a funny name."

The monster opened its eyes and glared at the small, seemingly helpless child. With one huge roar, it started charging towards Lilia, albeit at a relatively slow speed. Lilia just stared at the Gug, becoming bigger in her eyes as it draws closer.

"Eeew. Gug breath."

The Gug suddenly launched a heavy blow from above. In an instant, Lilia shot the a chain upwards at supersonic speed, piercing the monster's wrist and attaching it to the ceiling. The monster let out a deafening cry of pain, forcing Lilia to cut the chain from her sleeve and cover her ears. The cut end of the chain then started to wrap around the Gug's arm as Lilia walked away from it.The trapped monster desperately tried to gnaw on the chain, but to no avail.

"That's supposed to be indestructible, you know", Lilia said, assuming the Gug could understand her."Can this be considered a victory or not?"She looked around the room. Not finding any exit, she assumes the latter.She once again turned at the Gug.

"Chains of Heaven"

The two ends of the chain started moving out of Lilia's sleeves and wrapping around the whole monster. With one silent command, the chains constricted the Gug. The sound of clattering metal filled the room.

Suddenly, there was violent movement from within the coils of the chains. The Gug is still alive! Lilia concentrated harder to maintain the grip, but alas, the monster proved too powerful to be crushed that easily. Lilia let the chains loosen up, giving the Gug an opening to jump out of the coil, trying to land on Lilia and crush her.

In one instant, four slivers of the Chains of Heaven shot diagonally upwards. Two pierced the monster in the arms, one in the chest and one right between the eyes, anchoring the monster on the nearby wall. The body of the growling monster formed a huge, bloody cross.

Lilia calmly walked towards the Gug and gently touched its feet.

"I'm the heir of Schweiss. I am a Faith Eater."

Lilia's voice echoed in the room as the Gug's body disintegrates and vanishes without a trace.

"Aughh... I don't feel so good."

Lilia vomited a clear liquid. The faithless Gug's breath had a negative effect on her, although very minimal. A bottle containing a strange liquid materialized in front of Lilia.

*Kzzzt* TO MAKE THINGS INTERES--- ALL SORTS OF--- MONSTERS FOR YOU TO FIGHT, SORT OF AN ELIMINATE THE *kzzzt* *beep* IN FACT, LET'S BEGIN THE ELIMINATION ROUND RIGHT NOW! DEFEAT THE GUG TO REVEAL THE EXIT!"

"Hey, hey, it's starting!"

A crowd gathered around Dvayne as he fine-tuned the Apostles' wavelengths to match the change in location. He is surrounded by a nexus of panels, serving as adjustment and viewing apparatuses. Skyr stood in place as his controller surveyed the surroundings. A lone, bizarre-looking statue stands in the middle of the room.

"Where's the Gug? Is that the Gug?",asked a young-looking mage as she pointed at the largest glass panel.

A tall, dark-skinned man placed a hand on the little girl's head and ruffled her hair before guiding her out of the room. The dark-skinned man returned to sit beside a lanky but well-dressed gentleman in black.

The crowd watched as the Gug shook off the last pieces of stone from its hulking frame. Dvayne shifted from his seat and Skyr slumped into a form that appears to be half a slouch and half a fighting stance. Upon seeing such a lousy posture, the dark-skinned man literally roared out a question.

"Do you really need to assist Skyr in combat? I heard he defeated 2000 men back when he was alive."

"Well, he's no longer alive.", replied Dvayne. "Besides, that was during the Drammel Campaign, the biggest failure in the history of anything...ever. The dairy men only faced around 500 men who were already shivering from the cold, and I need to get used to-- whoa!"

The Gug threw a punch, clumsily followed by an upward claw swipe. Even with Dvayne distracted, Skyr effortlessly avoided both attacks. He swiftly retaliated by stabbing the enemy's left shoulder and quickly withdrawing to evade another punch.

"That was a pretty shallow wound... but nice moves there, buddy."

Skyr gave a low growl as the Gug shambled towards him. Another counterattack and the Gug was left with a vicious leg wound.

"Time to finish this!"

Unmindful of the large gash on its leg, the Gug leapt toward Skyr in seeming desperation. Skyr left a thin layer of ice as he pivoted out of the way, causing the four-armed creature to slip. The black blade hacked into the Gug's neck but the thick muscles proved too difficult to cut with just one swing. A powerful arm suddenly shot up and grabbed Skyr by the helm's base. The other arms flipped him over to the floor as the Gug widened its mouth for a bite.

*CLANK*

The Gug chomped away at Skyr's shoulder plate, biting fiercely as it made no progress even with razor-sharp teeth. Skyr easily out-wrestled the creature and knocked it back to the ground. A gargle can be heard from its open neck as dark crimson continued to spout. The monster repeatedly tried to stand up but kept slipping on its own blood.

After waiting for his enemy to stop flailing around, Skyr proceeded to plunge his right hand into the wound on the Gug's neck and held its shoulders with his left. With one forceful tug, he ripped off the monster's head from its sinewy nape. The undead priest proudly raised his trophy as blood poured into the earth below.

All of a sudden, Skyr's belly swelled to reveal teeth-like structures that slowly unfolded until it resembled a giant, gaping maw. The Gug's head was lowered and it disappeared into the abyss behind the row of barbs.

Servante was in the room, still seething with rage over the unfairness in his master's life. He didn't even hear the announcer's voice anymore as imaginary rage-emo music echoed in his ears, creating a sort of awesome background music only he could hear.

He had never felt so undead in his undeath, having only one simple goal in his mind, characteristic of mindless zombies and such. He was going to do everything in the way that first comes to his mind. No tactics, no thinking twice. Just pure action.

Servante pulled out a silver knife from one of his many butler pockets, which he subconsciously and instinctively prepared beforehand. This enemy that depetrified before him looked slow and stupid; he wasn't going to talk to it as if he were in a scripted shounen battle scene (because that's what they do). He would save his already occupied thinking functions for later when he would need them.

Once the small metallic orb was safely in one of his pockets (which he barely understood was important, but put it away anyway because he wasn't sure), he threw the silver knife towards the Gug's head. Exactly how he threw it was unknown; it was too fast and the place was quite dark, so there.

The Gug didn't try to evade at all. He took the knife head on as it passed through his head like it was hot butter. The stupid dead brute fell forward, because he didn't have a face anymore for the word face-first. Pieces of nerve endings were scattered behind him (it somehow seemed inappropriate to call it a brain) and the knife was lodged in the stone wall.

However, this Butter Knife move had its side effects -- a slight strain on his muscles. Servante could have killed the enemy without using his undead strength, but he didn't because he didn't think of it first. He walked seriously over to his knife and dislodged it from the wall. Looking straight ahead and with an unaffected expression, he wiped his knife with his butler cloth. Like a villain. Or boss. Like a boss.

Kadrach tries to take initiative by striking first. He jumped high into the air to add more force into the blow, but to no avail. The monstrosity standing before him barely took any damage from the hit. The stupid yet powerful Gug backanded Kadrach, and sent him flying across the room.

Despite the powerful attack the monster dished out, Kadrach's armor protected him but not without taking a little damage.

The Gug moves closer and closer towards Kadrach, who is on the far side of the room. This gives him time to charge up one of his two spells. The only thing to think about now is which one to use.

"Should I use Infinity to finish off this monster? Wait! Dark-skinned... it might be weak to light spells. Then again, I have been fooled before. Am I to gamble with Infinity or go with the seemingly right answer and use Grand Cross?"

Unbelievably, this went on in his mind some two or three seconds, and ultimately went with Grand Cross to deal with the Gug. His chanting began, the shortest possible, hoping that it would be enough since it's getting too close for comfort.

"Lux. Quartus angulus."

The Gug has closed in for the attack, its arms ready to tear Kadrach's head from his body. He uttered the last words to complete the spell:

"Grand Cross."

Pillars of light burst out of the ground in four directions, instanlty obliterating the Gug.

"At lowest power and it was still too much for it to handle. And here I thought this was going to be difficult."

An item was left behind by the Gug where it stood before disintegrating. A potion. He doesn't know what it is for, but decided to take it anyway.

Jaahi gave the Gug an appraising look as the eldritch abomination roared and charged towards her.

"A Gug, huh? Back where I come from, we keep things like you as pets."

Smirking, she flapped her wings and met his charge with Shaitan raised. As the creature drew closer, Jaahi delivered a quick diagonal strike, causing three long gashes to appear across the Gug's face and begin bleeding. Roaring in pain, the Gug delivered a strong backhanded blow with two of its arms. She braced herself and raised Shaitan to block, but was still slightly surprised at the strength of the blow which actually pushed her back slightly. She quickly moved back and flew up slightly. Her shock increased when the Gug followed her and then leapt upwards, trying to grab her out of the air and almost succeeding had she not swiftly flown higher. Annoyed, she reversed the grip on her pitchfork and then drew it back, at the same time channeling fire into Shaitan until the tips began to glow red-hot and then suddenly ignited. The Gug tensed and began getting ready to jump up at her again.

"Impudent cretin. Taste my wrath!"

Shaitan pointed directly at the Gug, Jaahi dived downwards just as the creature leapt up. With a forward thrust of her arms, she stabbed the burning points of the trident directly into the Gug's face. The force of the blow reversed the Gug's upward momentum, sending it crashing back down to the ground. The Gug gave a pitieous moan of pain as Jaahi yanked the trident out of its face. Jaahi gave a sadistic smirk, before stabbing the Gug in the face again and then igniting the trident, blowing off the Gug's head in the process.

"Pathetic. Any participants who were killed in this round by something this weak deserved to die.."

A monstrous roar thundered across the room as the Gug started leaping towards Fiamma. She poised for a defensive position, being unaccustomed to fighting against such horrors. Nothing in the hunting plains and in the arboreal expanse of the mainlands even remotely resembled the Gug. She was used to taking out mammoths, raptors, and giant boars; she was used to leading sieges on castles, destroying magical constructs, and dueling with champions.

A loud thud. Fiamma blocked an overhead smash and evaded a backhanded blow. Instinctively, she drove the hunting horn down her opponent's left knee and sent it flying with a full swing to the torso. She had won the first clash but until that last strike, Fiamma felt her blood running cold.

Seemingly unfazed and not giving time for a breather, the Gug scrambled back to its feet and charged towards Fiamma. This time, it managed to grab onto the hunting horn and tried to wrest it away using all four of its arms. Fiamma was briefly overpowered and got slammed against a wall.

"I have to pull myself together... this is supposed to be the weakest opponent in the dungeon!"

Pinned down with her own weapon, Fiamma drew more strength from her sun-blest armor, pushed the hunting horn away and slipped to the side. She reached for the mouthpiece and a nearby valve, sounding the first few notes of Rosen-rot.

Fiery spikes jutted out of the Heart of Tarrasque, impaling the Gug's arms on the massive club. Fiamma jumped over her opponent and stabbed its eye with the Vescana. While the Gug bellowed in pain, Fiamma yanked away her hunting horn and ripped the Gug's arms from their joints. Finally, as if swinging a giant nail bat, she fiercely brought the Heart of Tarrasque upon the monster's face, with enough force to split open both flesh and bone.

Fiamma breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the floor. With expressionless eyes, she watched as the Gug slowly disintegrated, leaving a pile of dust and a most conspicuously colored bottle of liquid. She grabbed the bottle and noticed the Ring of Gillghast emitting a faint green glow.

Solomon settled into the opening stance of the Thousand Snakes style - left foot forward, weight on the right foot, arms raised at shoulder level with the right forearm held diagonally to block the first strike and the left arm pulled back with the left hand rigid and ready for a counter attack - as the Gug charged towards him. Although evasion was an integral part of Thousand Snakes, Solomon had developed a habit of blocking his opponent's first blow to gauge their strength and allow him to adjust his own accordingly.

It's not like that thing can kill me. Besides, how hard can that thing hit anyway?

With surprising speed, the Gug swung its left arm in a horizontal strike meant to decapitate its prey. Solomon braced his arm to receive the blow, but was surprised when the force lifted him off his feet and sent him flying to smash into the opposite wall. He lay stunned against the wall for a few seconds.

Solomon focused, and the pale grey of color of his clay arms slowly turned into the dark grey, almost black color of flint. As the Gug roared and charged again, Solomon quickly got back up and settled into the opening stance again. This time, when the Gug struck out, Solomon held firm and deflected the blow before countering with a flurry of finger strikes, finishing with an open palm thrust that sent the Gug reeling backwards. Before it had time to recover, the Anthroparion leaped forward and jumped onto the Gug, holding onto its shoulder with his right hand. He pulled his left arm back, and his left hand transformed into a huge flint spike. The Gug roared in his face and grabbed Solomon in a bear hug, intent on breaking his spine, but was surprised when instead of flesh it felt like it was trying to squeeze solid rock.

"Can't break what ain't there, ugly. Now, open wide."

When the Gug roared again, Solomon slammed the spike straight into the Gug's mouth. Feeling the Gug still trying to squeeze him, Solomon pulled the spike out before thrusting it in again, repeating the motion several times until he felt the four arms around him go slack. He yanked the spike out of the Gug's mouth, before transforming his arm into a blade and then lopping the Gug's head off. Solomon jumped off as the Gug's body started to dissolve into dust, leaving behind a bottle filled with a rainbow liquid. Solomon flicked the blood off his arm-turned-blade before turning it back to normal. He picked up the bottle, uncorked it, and sniffed at the contents.

"Revitalizing Elixir. Groovy."

He recorked the bottle and placed it inside his Bag of Holding. A quick glance around the room revealed that a doorway had appeared when he had defeated the Gug. Shrugging, he continued out.

After the warning was given, Xeust instinctively jumped back and glared at the statue as it came alive. The Gug roared as it broke free from its petrification. It then looked towards the Galun, its mouth salivating at the sight.

"Heh! I know there was something fishy with that statue. I could smell a monster a mile away." Xeust then charged at the beast. "Sorry but you'll have to die know!" The wolfman roared and raised his thunder claws as he reached the legs of the Gug. He jumped up until he was up to the beast's stomach area. He then let out a series of hard punches towards the enemy. However, it doesn't seem to working as the Gug was grinning at him. The beast retaliated by swatting Xeust away.

Xeust slammed into the wall and fell to the ground, wheezing. "Damn it... What luck I have to be trapped with something resistant to blunt weaponry." Xeust stated. He then looked towards the enemy and saw that it was currently pre-occupied with one of the torches on the wall. The Gug raised a finger to tough the fire then pulled it back when it felt the heat of it. It then raised his finger again and burning itself once more. "Not the smartest whatever you are, aren't you?" Xeust chuckled. 'This could work...'

Xeust then charged until it was behind the Gug. The Galun climbed the beast's back. Feeling something was behind it, the Gug thrashed and clawed at its back, piercing and scratching itself with its own claws. "Well now, it doesn't seem like you're resistant to your own claws." Xeust repeatedly taunt the monster as he scrambled around its body. The Gug clawed at him, only to miss and damage itself.

It went on for a few minutes with the Gug slowly killing itself. Once tired, the Gug knelt on the ground, its body was now covered in wounds and blood. Xeust got off to inspect the monster. "Not so big and tough now, aren't you?" He then grabbed the Gug's head so he can stare into its eye. "Don't worry." He raised his thunder claws. "I'll make this quick and as painless as possible." He then drove the claws through the monster's mouth and impaling its brain. The Gug Roared and twitched, spitting out blood from its mouth. A moment later, the Gug's body fell to the ground with Xeust shaking the blood off his fur. He saw a vial by the fallen beast and decided to take it.

A door opened across the room. "Looks like that's my queue." He then looked at the Gug once more. "If only Dad could have seen that fight." The Galun ran towards the door, and towards the next room.

Silver inspected the room he was in. After the statue gave the message it went silent, leaving the mechanoid alone. "Silver to HQ. Come in, HQ." Silver said using his transmitter but was met with static. HE looked around the room once more using a different light spectrum in his visor and saw a strange glow around the room.

"These rocks must be interfering with my communications system." He said to no one in particular. He turned around once more to look at the statue closely. "Such a stange idol."

The statue's eyes flew open and was now staring at Silver. The mechanoid jumped back as far as he could using his thrusters and took out his pulse machine gun. The statue shook, creating cracks around the body. Its eyes moved around but would stop to look at Silver every once in a while. A short moment later, the statue exploded revealing a grotesque monster. The monster roared, making the room shake.

In return, Silver let out a continuous shot of energy from his machine gun towards the monster. However, there doesn't seem to be any damage done on the beast's fur. Silver tok out his Quake Brandish and charged head-on towards the enemy.

The two took on a heated battle for minutes with Silver hacking away at the Gug while the latter clawed at him. While both had power, neither was making progress in defeating the other. The Nanites in Silver's body was quickly regenerating the damage while the Gug's defenses were too powerful. Silver moved away to study his predicament.

"At this rate, it will be an eternity before I get out of here." Silver stated. "My sword doesn't have any effect on its skin. However..." He looked at the Gug's mouth. "Perhaps, his insides isn't." The two stared at each other fiercely. "If I'm going to defeat this, I'll have to move quick. I only have a few seconds to do this."

Silver activated his Quake Brandish to release a strong vibration. He then drove his sword to the ground and further increased the vibration output remotely. The vibration created cracks on the ground and was shaking everything. The Gug was having trouble keeping its balance and it fell on its back. When the beast started to fall. Silver cancelled the order to his sword and the sword stopped shaking. The mechanoid then took it from the ground and rushed towards the fallen Gug.

Near the Gug's feet, Silver jumped up and stared at the monster's face. "I have to do this just right. It's now or never!" Silver targeted the Gug's mouth. He then pointed hisword towards it and dove down with his boosters' assistance. However, the Gug quickly caught the sword in mid air with its hand. The two struggled to overpower the other. In Silver's visor, the boosters' power level was diminishing quickly and he had to think of a way to free himself.

Silver activated his pulse machine gun and shot at the Gug's eye. The beast roared and flinched alittle but it was enough for Silver to free himself and drive the sword through the beast's mouth. With the Gug's mouth still wide open, Silver let out a volley of rounds from his machine gun, quickly destroying the inside of the Gug. He also drew his sword back and thrusted it downwards to it would go down the Gug's throat. He wiggled the sword around to try to damage any organs within. With the amount of damage it took, the Gugs succumbed to the pain and blood loss and died. Silver took his word back and put it back on his back while retracting his pulse gun. He frame was still sporting a few scratches and was now drenched in the beast's blood but it didn't really bother him.

The mechanoid noticed a bottle nearby with a peculiar liquid and took it with him. Doors opened around the room. Silver inspected each of them and chose one to go through.

Nemmik blinked tirelessly as he recalibrated his eyes to adjust to the unfamiliar lighting of The Pit. The hive clusters, while constantly lit by the dim glow of the Kjaadd larvae, were still shrouded in seemingly impenetrable darkness. The Pit was different-- it was as if he is surrounded by a dreadful miasma not meant to be seen by normal eyes.

Next was to test out the Babelfish organ, a highly advanced mass of nerves initially rejected by his body. Numerous forced evolutions increased both power and compatibility, at the cost of causing interference with the Kjaadd hivemind's synaptic network. There were no problems with the earlier instructions; the progenitor of their race was once human, after all.The Gug that just came to life let out a series of low-pitched growls, which the Babelfish understood only as 'destroy'.

As the Gug lurched forward, Nemmik carefully skulked away, slowly fading away from view. He winded up the laceration coils and circled around the Gug, wondering if it can still sense his position.

It can't.

The Gug frantically searched for his invisible foe. Its low howling translates into confusion, though there is the notable absence of fear. The laceration coils suddenly sprang from Nemmik's left wrist. The coils whipped across the monster's eye, burning through the soft flesh and crushing parts of the skull. The Gug clawed away furiously as Nemmik pulled the coils back. He closed in on the Gug and swiped away at its knees, forcing it to the floor with fast-acting paralyzing venom. A few more stabs to the abdomen and the Gug finally fell face down.

Nemmik stood over the fallen Gug as more rubbery tendrils grew from his mouth. These new ones possess a faint purple glow. A rather sweet scent erupted from the tendrils when they opened to reveal rows of crooked teeth.

The Lictor paused to entertain a sudden thought. He now realized that he was thinking outside the Synapse. None of his thoughts could reach the Lord of the Hive. None of his experiences; information from the senses are aggregated by the hivemind. He felt a certain sense of freedom, momentarily forgetting that partial autonomy meant that the Lord of the Hive can still take over at any time.

The tendrils were lowered to the lump of mangled flesh above the Gug's mouth. The purple glow intensified as the tendrils creep over the pungent meat. Nemmik took his time to sort through the broken tissue and bits of crushed skull when the Gug gave out an unexpected gasp.

Nemmik found himself rolling on the floor after apparently being hit on the head. The paralysis should have lasted much longer, he thought. He quickly leapt back into a fighting stance after regaining composure.

The Gug lay motionless as it started disintegrating. Nemmik retracted the feeder tendrils and was met with a surge of mental images. The scraps of pulpy flesh stuck on the tendrils must have been the Gug's brain. The Gug's memories were far from useful. The only pieces of information Nemmik found slightly interesting from the whole 7-minute record was that the Gug never really saw him and that last blow was from its front forearm.

He picked up a bottle of liquid left in place of the Gug's corpse, placed it in a container sac, and began looking for an exit.

An apparition that looks exactly the same appeared behind the Tracer and walked towards the slowly awakening statue.

"Lame jokes aren't healthy."

Suddenly, a large fist came down upon the blue Tracer. The Gug roared as its fist went through Azuciel and struck the hard stone floor.

"Well this one's a piece of cake."

Acieroux aimed her arm towards the Gug and peppered the monster with energy shots. As the plasma dust settled, it was clear that the monster was unhurt and angrier than before.

"That didn't go as planned."

Fortunately, the stupid monster kept on pounding on the ethereal Azuciel.

"Hahaha, looks like it loves you!""Not amused."

Acieroux ran up behind the monster and "unsheathed" her energy blades. She tried slashing the monster's arms, then its legs, but to no avail. The Gug is resistant to her weapon, and worse it took notice of the red Tracer. With one large backhand, Acieroux was sent flying towards the far wall; but, quick thinking prevented her from slamming on the wall, teleporting towards Azuciel's position in front of the monster.

"Let's try something creative, shall we?""I don't like where this is going."

The Gug launched another huge punch towards the two Tracer halves... Acieroux skillfully jumped out of the way as Azuciel just stayed and took the blow. Azuciel then calmly walked towards the Gug, jumped and punched the monster in the face. Her ethereal arm went through the Gug's head.

"Ugh."

Acieroux glowed for a moment. In an instant, she switched position with Azuciel, her corporeal arm inside the Gug's head. Acieroux then activated her weapon from inside; loud popping and sizzling sounds echoed through the cold, empty room.

The two halves switched positions again, and Azuciel pulled her arm out of the Gug's head then landed gracefully on the ground. The monster's lifeless body dropped soon after.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S A FUCKING MACHAMP!" Sebastian roared in excitement. He took a step back and formed a defensive fists-clenched stance. The fog of war cleared, and our hero finally realized it was not actually a Pokémon. It was a monster. And it looked like it wanted to kick his ass. The Gug just stood there, looking at Sebastian as if he were a harmless little kitten. Yip yip. It took a huge step forward, raised its sinuous arm to strike, and let down a lethal blow of literal brute strength, bashing the sane wits out of its enemy Fodder.

Sebastian felt imminent death as he flew across the room in slow motion like an SS projectile shotgun'd from a GunBound Armor mobile. His seemingly lifeless body hit the wall and fell to the ground, motionless. Unable to move with ribs probably broken and who knows what various internal organs ruptured, it was a miracle Sebastian was still conscious. He instantly knew it was the best time to reorganize his thoughts into making his last words. "Please forgive me, my love" he thought. Then it occurred to him. He couldn't speak. Thus, technically, his final words were "It's a fucking machamp."

Too much hurt made it so that the dying bastard's whole body exponentially grew number by the second. This numbing pain gave Sebastian the extra consciousness to at least revisit in his mind the things he cared about most, especially his memories with the girl he loved. He remembered the way she'd always pinch his arms, the way she'd close her eyes when they kissed, the way she'd let out that sexy "aahhhh" when something cute happens, the way she'd always hold onto his arms when they'd go down the stairs, and pretty much everything else that she does. Sebastian simply lay there, recollecting all his precious moments over and over again until the light in him ran out. And then he died.